The Shenmue 1 & 2 remaster release date has been confirmed

Update, July 3: Shenmue I & II remasters release next month.

Ahead of the release of Shenmue III, Sega has confirmed the release date for remasters of the first two games in the trilogy. The company had previously stated that the two games would be released as a remaster, but the date was initially leaked by a posting on the Microsoft store.

That listing on the Microsoft store stated that the two games (which appear to be relatively simple ports of the original releases) will be available from Tuesday, August 21 in Europe (August 20 in America). The listing also states that the games will be bundled together for a release price of $29.99. That’s been confirmed now with a launch trailer, which you can watch at the bottom of this article.

Shenmue I & II tells the story of Ryo and his attempt to avenge his father, who was killed by of a man named Lan Di. You’ll have access to the first two games in the trilogy, but with an updated UI, a choice of modern or classic controls, and the ability to scale your resolution. For the first time, Japanese audio will also be available.

Hopefully there’ll be enough in those first two games to keep you busy until the Shenmue 3 release date. That game, which was first announced at E3 2015, has already been delayed twice – once into the second half of 2018, and then into 2019.

We did get wind of the Shenmue 3 system requirements last week, so a lengthy wait might help you trim your hard drive to make space for the 100GB you’ll need.